


back to you (forever and always)

by hydroxy



Category: NCT (Band)
Genre: AU - Pre-SuperM Debut, Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - High School, Alternate Universe - Spies & Secret Agents, M/M, Multiple Universes, Relationship Study
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-21
Updated: 2020-12-21
Packaged: 2021-03-10 21:42:24
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,596
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28214151
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hydroxy/pseuds/hydroxy
Summary: That’s the thing about soulmates—no matter what, they’ll always find their way back to each other.(Alternatively: Four separate universes in which Mark and Donghyuck are tethered.)
Relationships: Lee Donghyuck | Haechan/Mark Lee
Comments: 12
Kudos: 83





	back to you (forever and always)

**Author's Note:**

> my collection of markhyuck drabbles for alw #23daysofwonder consolidated into one place.

You’d think a boy from Canada, the land of ice and hockey (ice hockey,  _ hello _ ) would be able to ice skate with grace and skill, but Donghyuck quickly learns that Mark is  _ not _ like other Canadian boys. Not at all.

They’re walking around downtown through the maze of Christmas trees alight with multicolored string and handmade ornaments, all seven of them—Jeno and Jaemin with hands linked in the snug comfort of Jeno’s jacket pocket, Jeno teasingly playing with the tassels on Renjun’s beanie before leaning in to steal a kiss and wipe Renjun’s scowl off his face, Jisung and Chenle with pinkies entwined while they passed their shared hot chocolate back and forth, Donghyuck with a permanent frown on his face and Mark, walking right next to him, bundled in about four layers of clothing and  _ still  _ shivering to death, his lips tinted purple and teeth chattering.

It wasn’t really a secret that Donghyuck had  _ the  _ biggest crush on Mark, absolute dork who didn’t even like maple syrup because he thought it was too “sticky,” at least not to the other five. Mark, though, Donghyuck sighs to himself as he steals a glance at the boy whose eyes are currently comically widened at sight of the huge Christmas tree in the center of the plaza towering over them, probably has no stinking clue about how much Donghyuck wanted to smash their faces together and remain stuck like that, to warm the purple right off Mark’s lips to a bright, bitten red.

“Last one in line’s a rotten egg!” Chenle yells before dashing towards the ice skating rink, dragging Jisung behind him while the rest of them just rolled their eyes and quickened their pace to a relaxed speedwalk to catch up to them.

“You want to pay, or should I?” Jaemin asks, hand already in his back pocket to pull out his wallet before Jeno just grins and squeezes his hand tighter, replying, “My treat.”

“Are you coming, hyung?” Donghyuck asks, a few strides forward before he realizes that Mark’s no longer walking right next to him. He turns around to find a dusting of pink atop the older’s cheeks and a timid grin barely gracing his lips and wants to  _ vomit _ from how cute Mark looks.

“I-uh,” Mark starts, teeth chattering the second he opens his mouth, “I can’t skate.”

“What?”

Mark coughs once, twice, fully avoiding eye contact with Donghyuck at this point.

“I said,” he whispers meekly, “I can’t skate. I don’t know how.”

It takes everything in Donghyuck’s power not to break into a huge grin—not because Canada boy didn’t have an ounce of Canada in his blood, but because he’d be able to hold Mark’s stupid, soft hand and let the older cling onto him like a baby bear to a tree. Donghyuck had originally been against this whole excursion to the town Christmas festival, preferring to lounge in his pajamas under his warm covers, but maybe he’d have to give Jaemin a peck on the cheek later for suggesting they go on this group date.  _ Date.  _ Date? Semantics.

“Come on,” Donghyuck says, firmly grabbing onto Mark’s hand from the front pocket of his hoodie, “I’ll teach you.” And he doesn’t make an effort to listen to Mark’s embarrassed pleas to skip out on skating because, well, he wasn’t about to let this golden opportunity literally slip from his fingers.

“Donghyuck,” Mark says, grip tight on Donghyuck’s arm as he stepped onto the ice, “I’m serious. I’ve never done this before.” 

And when Mark looks up from his neatly-tied laces, his eyes filled with whole galaxies and tinted with fear, Donghyuck smooths his hand over the older’s hair and offers him a kind smile, his heart full. 

“Don’t worry, hyung,” he says, his voice soft. “I’ve got you.”

Mark takes his hand, and Donghyuck tries with all his might to imprint the feeling into his warm palm to keep forever.

* * *

“Baby–what— what are you doing?”

“Snuggling with you, obviously.”

“Yes, I can see that, but like this?”

Mark tenderly smooths his hand down the crown of Donghyuck’s caramel-tinted hair, delicately carding his fingers through the soft strands as he patiently waited for Donghyuck to respond, the latter with his head currently shoved into Mark’s armpit and curled up into a round ball, arms tightly wrapped around his waist.

“I wanted cuddles.”

It’s 2 AM in the morning, the sky a dark, midnight blue with the only light from outside a flickering street lamp. They’d been studying together in their living room for the past eight hours, Donghyuck in his favorite corner by the large window shaded by yellowing leaves that slowly fell from their branches, Mark on their sofa with a blanket draped over his knees and his laptop on his thighs, both of them with headphones in and the occasional groan as the day went on and the sun went down. 

He’d learned at the very start of their relationship that Donghyuck really,  _ really  _ resonated with one love language in particular, the younger always taking every opportunity to climb into Mark’s lap like a housecat or make grabby hands at Mark’s face to kiss him before he’d let him get out of bed in the mornings. Lee Donghyuck and the need for physical touch were practically synonymous (though Mark really can’t complain—nothing made him happier than the bright smile that would grace Donghyuck’s lips whenever they’d spend an afternoon together in bed, limbs entwined and the warmth ebbing and flowing between their bodies pressed flush against one another).

“Aren’t you uncomfortable?” Mark murmurs, gently closing his laptop and pushing it off to the side.

“A little bit.” Donghyuck’s voice comes out muffled by the thick fabric of Mark’s hoodie, the vibrations tickling his arm with every word that leaves Donghyuck’s lips.

“Did you… want to move into a more comfortable position?”

“I’m tired.”

_ Ah,  _ it was one of  _ those _ nights.

“Okay,” Mark says, a smile pulling at his lips as he looked down at the mop of hair pushed into his chest, “Should we sleep now?”

“Will you carry me?”

_ “Carry you?”  _ Mark teases, leaning back in pretend shock as he tries to stifle a giggle. “Since when were you such a big baby?”

“Since electromagnetism decided to exist and fry my brain,” Donghyuck grumbles, a full laugh bubbling out of Mark’s chest at how adorable Donghyuck’s frustration was.

“Your brain can’t be fried, silly,” Mark says as he ruffles through Donghyuck’s hair, “Though I guess with how much myelin is wrapped around those nerdy neurons of yours, there’s probably an argument to be made there about—”

“I came over here to have some warm cuddles with my boyfriend, not to fry my brain even  _ more,”  _ Donghyuck complains, now looking up at Mark with wrinkled brows and an annoyed pout.

“Sorry,” Mark singsongs, his lips pulled into a huge grin as Donghyuck blows him a raspberry.

Then Mark wraps an arm around Donghyuck’s back and his other arm under his knees and hoists himself up, a loud, exaggerated groan ripped from his chest as he makes his way from the couch to their bedroom with Donghyuck’s arms tightly wrapped around his neck and a giddy smile plastered across his lips.

“This is why I tell you to go to the gym with Jeno,” Donghyuck giggles.

“So I can carry you to bed whenever you’re too lazy to walk on your own two very functional feet?”

“Exactly.”

* * *

“Is everything okay?”

“I can’t sleep.”

“I thought you said you were sleeping like,” Mark checks the time on his phone, “two hours ago.”

“Well, that was two hours ago, and I still haven’t been able to fall asleep.”

Mark hears some shuffling in the background, then a quiet, muffled sigh.

“I miss you, hyung.”

“I know,” he responds. The familiar two words slip from his lips like they have been for the past month, in the late evenings when he’d have to wish goodnight over the phone to the boy patiently waiting for him in his bed and in the early mornings when he’d have to silently slip out from under their covers and leave a gentle kiss on Donghyuck’s cheek before the sun’s rays would wake the younger up, “I’m sorry.” 

It comes out as a bare whisper, the breath leaving his lungs carrying with it all the weight on his shoulders and the pain of knowing that this was a necessary part of their lives—the long schedules that would last until dawn, the secret kisses that could only be shared in the privacy of their bedrooms, the tender caresses hidden away from inquisitive camera lenses and invasive microphones taped to the skin of their cheeks—and that he couldn’t do anything more in this moment other than wish that Donghyuck’s heart didn’t ache as much as his own.

Mark and Donghyuck—professional debuters, their fans and colleagues would call them. 

Perhaps it was a good thing, Mark thinks, that Donghyuck didn’t need to—hadn’t been chosen for, Donghyuck often teasingly complains, but with no bite—debut again this time. Mark didn’t think that he himself was invincible, no. But to imagine Donghyuck in the same kind of stress that Mark currently felt, one that burned him from within, eternal flames licking at his flesh with every wrong gesture, every forgotten movement, every time he stumbled over his words in the recording booth as the night waned into day—that would hurt more than all the time they’ve had to spend apart.

“It’s okay,” Donghyuck murmurs, the sound of his thin voice crackling as it leaves the headphones lodged into Mark’s ears. “Tell me about your day.”

“We’re at an airport right now,” Mark replies, craning his neck to the side to look through the huge cement pillars at where Taeyong was currently standing. “Taeyong hyung is recording for his part, and then it’s my turn.”

“Is it cold?”

“I’m okay.” Mark watches the way his breath fogs with every exhale. Donghyuck doesn’t need one more thing to be worried about.

“Are you the last one to record for tonight?”

“Yeah.” The word leaves his lips as a tired sigh. “And then we get to go home.”  _ And then I get to see you. _

“Hyung,” Donghyuck says. Mark notices the way he sounds quieter now.

“Hm?”

“Are you nervous?”

“For what?”

“You’re debuting again.” 

“I am.”

_ I am nervous,  _ Mark thinks. It’s always the same kind of feeling. It bubbles in his chest and it never goes away—not really. But Mark likes to think he’s gotten better at dealing with it over time. 

“Remember when we first debuted, hyung? With 127?”

“What about it?”

“You were  _ really _ nervous back then.”

“I was.” 

Donghyuck had dark caramel hair back then. Mark remembers the way his scalped burned when he’d bleached his hair to dye it bright orange.

“Remember what I told you?” Donghyuck murmurs.

“That my styling was ugly?”

He hears Donghyuck giggle sleepily. He smiles.

“I told you that no matter what, no matter how happy or sad or stressed or anxious you are, I’ll be here. So if you ever need me… if you ever need a reminder of how great you are, Mark Lee, I’m here.”

It’s quiet, for a moment.

“I love you, hyung.” The words come out as a whisper. “Goodnight.”

* * *

“You know, if they knew we were coming, you’d think they’d try at least a  _ little  _ harder to tie some better knots. What is this, a double fisherman’s? Now that's just  _ offensive _ —"'

"Dong _ hyuck!"  _ Mark groans, throwing his head back against the metal beam he's currently tied to, hands and feet bound together by heavy steel chains that burned his sensitive skin with every harsh tug, "My life is kind of on the line right now, and you're making  _ jokes  _ about this—"

"Not jokes, honey," Donghyuck throws a cocky wink his way, his nimble fingers skillfully unweaving the heavy rope tied around Mark's waist down to his legs, "I'm completely serious. I came into this thinking it'd be a sort of challenge, you know? Yet, here I am, untying my poor boyfriend from the pole the _bad guys_ tied him to before he could escape—you did your _best,_ I'm sure," he coos with a mocking pout, laughing when the older fumes, "with a little too much ease, don't you agree?"

The beeping of the digital timer, bright red from where it was tied to a few hundred bundles of dynamite, continues behind them, a monotonous  _ beep, beep, beep _ that had been ringing in Mark's ears for the past two minutes while Donghyuck was busy making his way to where he was.  _ 90 seconds. _

"Baby, I love you," Mark grits out, "but I  _ really  _ don't like you right now."

"Should've reconsidered the marriage proposal while you had the chance," Donghyuck cocks a brow, a smirk growing on his lips when Mark rolls his eyes at the silver band on the ring finger waggled in his face. "Now you're stuck with me forever."  _ 80 seconds. _

"Not if you don't get me out of here before we both  _ die,"  _ Mark half-yells, his eyes annoyedly widened at his fiancé's cheeky grin.

"Do you really have so little faith in me?" Donghyuck pouts, his fingers stopping at the last few knots that laid atop Mark's sternum.

_ "Can you please get on with it _ —"

"Prince in distress thinks his prince charming can't save him, even when he's done it  _ hundreds  _ of times before—"

"Baby, please," Mark practically whines, a gasp in pain when he accidentally tugs at the chains around his wrists a little too hard, a jolt of electricity sent up his arms as a reminder for him to stay still.  _ 60 seconds. _

"Well, since you asked so nicely," Donghyuck leans in to gently peck him on the cheek, "I guess I can't say no, hm?"

He tugs at a section of the knot and the entire braided cord falls to Mark's feet.

"See? That wasn't so hard, was it?"

"And the chains?"

"Oh, that's even easier."

Donghyuck whips out a small metal tube from one of the pockets in his vests, shaped into a pen with a button on the side.

"Don't move or you might lose a finger. Or toe. Your choice, really."

He clicks the button once for a bright orange laser to shoot out of the tip of the pen, blinding plasma solidified into a tapered blade, then slowly cuts through the chains, taking care not to burn the skin off Mark's wrists or around his ankles. The metal of his broken chains clang to the floor, one by one, and when the last link falls to the ground, Donghyuck clicks the button once more to turn his laser off and tuck it back into his front pocket.

"Told you."  _ 10 seconds. _

"Next time you doubt my abilities, remember who saved your life tonight—"  _ One. _

Mark grabs onto Donghyuck when he hears the final beep and lurches into the murky water beneath them just as the first explosive goes off, both of them taking a deep breath before plunging into the ice-cold water below, Mark's arms tightly wound around Donghyuck's waist.

They break out of the water with loud gasps for air, Mark coughing harshly while Donghyuck smoothes his wet hair out of his face with a wide grin.

"Happy new year, baby."

"Shut up," Mark mutters before crashing his lips onto Donghyuck's, the younger breaking into a laugh as he weaves his fingers through Mark's hair and returns the kiss.

**Author's Note:**

> thank you for reading! you can find me on [twt](https://www.twitter.com/hyckfairy/) or [cc](https://curiouscat.qa/hyckfairy) ♡


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